Friends of the Boar want to see wild boar back in the UK. We want to see wild boar managed properly without cruelty. We wish to share our views of how to live safely and peacefully alongside the wild boar. Presently, we don't believe wild boar are being treated fairly nor is science used to assess and manage the population. We believe the public are misled about the true character and socio-economic benefits that they bring to Britain.

Monday, 5 September 2016

BOARING & PREDICTABLE - MAINSTREAM NEWS FIRES UP HATRED OF BOAR

The last week of August witnessed the seasonal appearance of the boar after the summer recess. Hooray!

Boar fans may wish to visit the Forest of Dean now with a hope a seeing one of our most amazing mammals.

Every year, almost to the day, boar reappear from the heart of the forest. After a safe period of piglet rearing, the shortage of food starts to bite and the roadside verges start to call.

This is also a time when the inexperienced, first-time mums, give birth to their first litter of 4-6 piglets. The roadside verges represent a life-saving resource to these families, stocked full of insect grubs not to mention human waste after a summer full of litter throwing tourists.

Grubs as well as flowers grow well in the warmth of these verges, comparatively unshaded from the sun unlike the deeper parts of the forest where a dense tree canopy has all but killed of the grass by blocking out the light.

This period of fresh diggings around the forest always sparks a media frenzy for silly stories, and this year is no different.

The media are gifted press releases from the Forestry Commission's new public relations department of spin and disinformation. But not before meetings are convened in secret with various stakeholders in the Forest. It has become clear that the Forest of Dean is becoming corporatist by the backdoor, rather than by direct sell-off by the quango's (the FC) master in government (DEFRA).

On the 24th August, one such meeting took place between the Forestry Commission, commercial pig-breeders, boar hunters (The Deer Initiative) and the NFU (National farmers Union). Also present was the UKplc's local representative Mark Harper MP.

A day later, as predicted by Friends of the Boar, the results of the meeting would hit the centralised mainstream news media, leading to the usual inaccurate and utterly sensationalised descriptions of what is actually happening in the Forest of Dean.

The BBC had pig farmers on it's radio broadcasts, whining about breeding purity of rare breeds coming under attack. One woman mentioned being unable to allow her pigs roam wild on a grass bank because of threats from wild boar mating with her prized meat on trotters.

Thankfully on this show, Scott Passmore, formerly of Friends of the Boar but these days running his own venture "A Wild Life With Animals", challenged this pig-breeder to get a more secure fence around her pigs, just like her predecessors would have had when the Forest of Dean allowed pigs to roam free for months during pannage. Pig breeders didn't seem concerned with interbreeding of pigs of all shapes and races back then!

The only discussion that is noted in the main press release (see link) is how to kill more and more boar in the light of new and scientifically ridiculous guesswork on boar numbers. Numbers that are now put at over 1,500 boar, or in excess of 21 wild boar for every square kilometre of forest habitat!!

Utterly impossible!

This is dumbed down for the volunteer journalism recruits, or novice but enthusiastic corporate-sponsored "Presstitutes". A syndicated and automated news story feed with a tag-line that the boar population has increased by 50% on last year lands on their desk and they feel they need to generate click-throughs in order to be noticed by their editor.

The National Pig Association (NPA) of course believes everything that it's told by the inventors of the boar census at Bank House in Coleford, Gloucestershire. Similarly, the UKplc's rep also unquestionably defers to that authority, and what is created is a "consensus" without facts. Everyone is now awakening to the consensus trick of the mainstream media, but it doesn't stop themselves making each other look foolish and stupid.

Have a read of the ludicrous take from The Sun newspaper (see link), who also attempts to make us fearful of "educated" hogs, "smashing" through fences, leaving councillors "baffled".

None of this is actually happening!

Here is the NPA's own knee jerk report (see link) to the inaccurate news on boar numbers. The NPA now "demands" numbers be drastically reduced before the profits of UKplc take a turn for the worse.

The pig industry is of course controlled by DEFRA (the same daddy to the FC) through licenses and regulations, so it comes as no surprise the NPA has no voice of its own as clearly demonstrated in their report. The NPA quotes "new modelling" of numbers without question! The conclusion of this is the targeting of over 700 wild boar for this next hunting season (of course a number that doesn't exist naturally without the intervention of bad management).

Is it a coincidence that this news also comes the same week that guns are being fired at our badgers too?

This place is THE FOREST of DEATH. Bad science, consensus and a whore of a corporate mainstream press are forcing this upon us and our wildlife. It has no basis in fact and hides the true reasons behind diseases in animals - it is bad domestic husbandry.

The NPA claim they're worried about boar giving pigs diseases, when it is exactly the opposite that is true - domestic pigs are the historical and present-day source of all swine disease. We worry that diseased pigs on farms meet with the boar. We urge the farmers to fence in their diseased animals!

The pig industry admits that it is domestic pigs that pose the greatest biosecurity threat to other pigs and give advice on this here.

The same argument is true for Tb in cattle. Poor cattle husbandry has been shown to be the vector for Tb in badgers. But DEFRA and the "CON-sensus" CON-struct tries to avert gaze away from the truths about British farming and its disastrous effects on wildlife.

About Us & Contact

A no-frills group of wildlife enthusiasts, scientists, photographers and local residents wishing to see wild boar and all other wildlife thrive in the Forest of Dean and elsewhere in the UK.
Founded by David J Slater and Joyce Moss in the summer of 2011 as an independent conservation group with no prior affiliations.
Hoping to promote understanding of wild boar and as a pressure group to produce a realistic and science-based management plan of wild boar in the UK.
E-mail us via "my complete profile" below. Media enquirers only - please telephone 07999950697.

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We predict there will be many good and possibly rare photos of UK wild boar posted here over the coming years. We are supported by many talented wildlife photographers.

Please remember all photographs on this site are protected by UK Copyright Law and cannot be used without permission. Anyone wishing to use photos from this site please seek permission from the named photographer or via this blog. Thanks.

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